Back to Basics
by NaginiFay
Summary: What happens when you dump a science crew on an almost barren planet two million years in the past? Follow Daren Vek as he discovers the flaw in all Starfleet survival training. You always plan on rescue....
1. Chapter 1

Captain Cassandra Holly of the Federation Science Vessel Pioneer bid Commander Benjamin Sisco good day as they were given clearance to take the ship through the wormhole. Ensign Daren Vek was excited for his first mission. True, mapping stars in the gamma quadrant was hardly the most thrilling occupation in the universe, but there was always the chance that somebody from the region would be interested in a _dialog _with the ships weapons systems. Daren firmly reminded himself that a peaceful mission was a successful mission. It wasn't that stellar cartography wasn't the love of his life, it was, but every science vessel in the whole stinking Federation had been all over the area within 12 lightyears of the wormhole. They'd be lucky to find an asteroid that nobody had noticed before. He sighed as he told the computer to begin scanning to confirm data from previous maps.

"Bored, Ensign Vek?" Captain Holly teased. Holly was a short human woman, with short cropped red hair. Daren did not lie. His partly Vulcan cultural heritage dictated that he always be scrupulously honest, unless logic dictated that he must. He bent the rules quite often, but he felt that lying to his first captain really wasn't one of those times he should.

"Just a little sir."

"Don't worry, we'll be mapping where no has before. Just be patient."

"Sir?"

"Permission to push the envelope a bit came through from Command early this morning."

"Yes sir!" Daren replied enthusiastically.

His enthusiasm had worn off somewhat by the time they were done with their originally assigned region of space. As he had feared, previous teams had missed objects of mostly minor significance. The only thing that excited him in the least was a class M moon orbiting a gas giant. He envied those who would actually explore the moon. The gas giant was the only planet in orbit around its sun, causing speculation that the moon had once orbited the sun. Having grown up on earth, Daren wondered what it would be like to live on a world where it was seldom dark. The moons night would be lit by reflected light from the gas giant. It was fascinating really.

His daydream of life on a twilight planet was interrupted by an alarm klaxon. He fought to comprehend what his console was telling him. Somehow a blackhole had appeared out of nowhere around the ship. Finally his instruments picked up the telltale signs of a wormhole.

"Its a wormhole," he shouted to the rest of the bridge crew, "But its going to be a bumpy ride! Recommend shields at the most we can get out of them, Captain." Caption Holly gave the order, and the crew held on for dear life.

Daren felt like a bean in a shaken maraca. He lost track of the number of times he was abruptly thrown against the wall or floor. "Why don't starships have safety restraints?" he wondered just before his head crashed into the ceiling.


	2. Chapter 2

His first thought when he awoke was, "Why am I upside down?" As he sat up, wiped blood of his face, he realized that the ship was upside down. Which meant that real gravity was at work, other wise he would be sitting on the floor. And real gravity meant two things. First that environmental control was malfunctioning. Second, that they had landed. On what, or where, he had no way of knowing with every instrument panel both blank and out of reach. The next thing Daren noticed was that he was alone. He looked around carefully, his head throbbing. He almost panicked when he saw the meter wide hole in the wall, then logic kicked in once more as he realised that if the air was not breathable, he would already be dead, or at least short on oxygen. The gap was also the best explnation for why everyone was gone. I slowly made my way over to it and peered out. Sure enough the bridge crew was standing out on the ground, looking around at where they had landed.

"Glad to see you're alive afterall," Daren's fellow mapping ensign said. "Couldn't tell if you had a pulse or not."

"I'm a quarter Vulcan," Daren explained as he looked around himself. "Most people can't feel my pulse, but I've got one."

He was dismayed to see where he had landed. There was not a sign of life in sight. It was like being in a desert. It wasn't quite as hot as his instincts told him it ought to be with nothing aorund but miles and miles of different colored sand, soils, and rock. The only thing that broke the mononty of the view was a river winding down from mountains.

"At least there's water," the captain commented., as Daren looked up dismayed at the orange sky. Her hair was sticky and spikey with blood. The first officer, a male betazoid, seemed to have a broken arm. The steersman, or woman, was simply badly battered. Suddenly the captain was all business.

"Vek, you get everything thats not bolted down into a pile on the bridge, and anything working that you can. Nulu, you help him." Daren and the first officer 'yes sirred', and got to work.

"Thomson, you see if the jeffries between here and the rest of the ship are passable, put a priority on finding our medical officer." Daren's partner acknowledge his orders and began trying to figure out a way to get in the tubes.

"Captain, I'm going to need a leg up." Holly offered her shoulders instead, and Thompson got the the cover off. "Can't see any obstructions, captain."

"Good, get moving." Thompson hoisted himself in and left.

"Smith and Nulu sit here and rest. Did you find the first aid kit, Vek?"

"Yes sir, also some lose paneling, the panel off your command chair, a survey tricorder, some metal stripping, wires, and my data pad. The tricorder and data pad both work, for now."

"Good, I'll stay here with Jones and Nulu. You go see if you can find the rest of the crew and repair anything you can. Bring back anything useful."


	3. Chapter 3

Authors Note: Apparently there was some confusion as to why Daren hit his head on the ceiling. Basically the ships artificial inertia and gravity were malfunctioning, and yes, the ship is quite small. If you've seen Deep Space Nine, think just a tad smaller than the Defiant.

Daren was summarily handed the data pad and tricorder, then lifted up to the jeffries tube. He crawled in. As soon as he figured he was out of earshot he began muttering, "I hate jeffries tubes, I hate them I hate them, yes I do!" over and over. He was not at all fond of confined spaces. He stopped at the first junction, pulled out the tricorder and tried to set it to look for life signs. It was not at all cooperative, but he finally managed to get it to scan for "deposits" of common minerals in the humanoid body. His data pad memory had been wiped somehow, so he drew a rough 3D schematic of the ship. The Pioneer was avocado shaped, with three levels, and the pit as engineering. The bridge was located on the top of the ship, which meant there were two levels above him, the next with engineering, science labs, mess hall, and crew quarters. The third contained instruments, storage, weapons systems, and their shuttle bay. He was glad that at least some sections of the emergency lights in the tubes were working. Thompson had somehow scratched which way he had gone at the junction into the metal of the wall. Maybe with his rank markers? Daren marked his direction and initials on the other way hoping that he was headed to crew quarters like he thought.

He was relieved to find that he had guessed right. Of course, with such a small ship, his odds had been good. Head science officer Marie Jones startled him by forcing her quarters door open just as he dropped out of the tube onto the ceiling.

"Have you seen my husband?" she asked him worriedly.

"Sorry, I just now came from the bridge. Everyone up there is more or less alright."

"Good, I'd worried that it might have been smashed, since we landed upside down."

"There's a huge crack in the wall, but that's about it."

"Don't think we'll be flying this thing home then, she said grimly.

"Put anything loose against the wall in the corridor, and bring anything that would be immediately useful with us," he instructed.

Jones nodded and began tossing things through her doorway. Daren moved on to the next door, the single womens quarters. The small amount of space available on the ship meant that only couples and the captain were afforded any privacy. Dr. Meng had apparently been sleeping when disaster struck, as she was still in her night clothes.

"Captain wants you on the bridge soon. Nulu has a broken arm. Take anything immediately useful with you." Meng snatched a few things off the ceiling, and crawled into the tube.

"Jones," he instructed, "Go through the womens room when you're done in there, and the mens, then head for the bridge."

No one was in the mens, so Daren walked carefully down the corridor to engineering, making sure not to trip on the archways that had looked nice and provided support for the bridge when it was upright, but were a nuisance now. Byron Jones was hard at work in engineering, trying to restore power to the only systems panel he could reach, the food replicator panel.

"Got it!" he yelled triumphantly.

"Well, at least we won't starve for awhile," Daren said.

"Oh! Hey, have you seen Marie?"

"Yes, she's just fine. Think you can fix anything else in here?"

"Warp core's gone, main power might be restored, but I'd need something or someone to stand on, sensor system looks like its still up on its own."

"That's great, grab anything immediately useful out of here and put everything else in a pile by the door, then go help Marie in crew quarters. head down the jeffries tube to the bridge when you're done, Captain wants a live body count."

Byron paled, "And dead?" "None so far," he replied reassuringly.


End file.
